Kirby's Carol
by Kirby's Cowgirl
Summary: I don't usually read h/c, much less write it, but this popped into my head and I knew it was gonna drive me nuts until I got it written down


Kirby's Carol

(not a holiday story)

Copyright 5/13 by Kirby's Cowgirl

Fanfic, not intended for profit

She hadn't come home. What if she had abandoned them like his worthless father? Billy stuffed his fist in his mouth so his siblings wouldn't hear him cry. He was only eight, for god's sake. He didn't want to be a man. He was scared and hungry. The two cans of soup he'd filched from the grocery store hadn't gone very far at dinner, and George had cried because there was no milk.

"Damn his worthless father anyway! Damn him to hell!"

It was the crying that woke him up. He thought Ruthie had had a nightmare, and slipped into the hall barefooted. And saw his Mom at the bathroom sink, blotting her split lip with a cloth. She had a welling bruise on her cheek too. Billy crept silently back into his room. She tried so hard for them. It

just wasn't fair. This had been another one of those nights when she'd tried to make a little extra money after her usual job waitressing at the bar.

He wanted to kill the man who'd hurt his Mom. He wanted to kill his worthless father. He hoped Ruthie could keep George from telling her that they were out of milk - again, and that he hadn't liked the soup they'd had for their dinner.

When she came into his room a few hours later, he pretended to be asleep. He didn't want to embarrass her about her face. She did the same thing every morning, tucked the covers around him, and lightly kissed his forehead. If he was awake, she told him she loved him and to look after his brother and sister and _try_ and stay out of trouble.

He waited until he heard the door close behind her as she left for her morning shift at the diner. She'd work breakfast and lunch, come home and lie down for a few hours, and then go waitress at the bar until after midnight. Even that was barely paying the rent, and he knew if she got caught taking the food she swiped for them, she'd lose her job and they'd be in even worse trouble.

He knew what he was going to do, and he knew it was on Bruno's turf. But if Bruno beat him to death later, well at least Ruthie and George would have had some breakfast. He threw the brick thru the plate glass window in the grocery store, and ducked as the glass shattered, then vaulted thru the hole. He ran to the back of the store, grabbed a glass container of milk and a huge ham out of the butcher case, and jumped back thru the window. His pants leg caught and tore, and he fell. He didn't drop anything, but he had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming as the glass ripped thru his skin.

He stumbled to his feet, and ran. Right into Bruno. He blanched, then stood his ground. He was not giving up that ham without a fight.

"Damn kid, you made a mess." Bruno said. "Leavin' a blood trail and all." He pulled a nasty bandanna from his pocket and tied it around the leg, kicked some dirt on the pool of blood that had formed, and pretty much hoisted Billy over his shoulder.

_Bruno hadn't killed him?_ Bruno liked Ruthie. He'd started to say something once about his pretty little sister, and then he'd clapped his mouth shut, like it was something he didn't want to remember. And Billy had the bad feeling that she was dead.

He'd all but passed out by the time they got to the apartment. Bruno dumped him on the sofa, gave the food to Ruthie, and told her he'd go get the Doc. The cranky old man had been a Doctor in the War. He didn't have a license, and he was usually drunk. He would patch up wounds, tell worried Mom's with no money what was wrong with their kids and what to do for them, and even deliver babies in a pinch, for a meal.

"Kid, you're gonna have to be quiet." Doc said. "I can't have the law comin' down on me. You've lost too much blood already, and I've got to get this sewed."

Bruno wordlessly pulled a stick from his pocket, and Billy clamped it between his teeth. And then the pain was so bad he fainted.

_She was going to kill him!_ Oh god, his head hurt so damn bad, and he had blood in his mouth. He must have gotten in a fight too. She had flat told him the last time, that if he didn't stop drinking, they were done. McCall had stopped her from clobbering him then. With her temper, she'd probably shoot him now. Why in the hell had he gotten drunk last night? And he'd had the nightmare about the Doc sewing his leg again. Was that _ever_ going to go away?

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Whoever that kid belonged to, needed to come and get her. His head was going to explode. He was going to throw up. And what was wrong with his hands?

"Daddy! I'm coming!"

He looked at the pretty little girl on the paint pony heading toward him. _How in the world could he have forgotten that he and his beautiful sharpshooter wife had a little girl? _She looked just like him, but she had Alex's blonde hair and blue eyes. He was going to be beating the boys off with a stick in a couple years.

"Daddy! I'll save you! Hang on!"

God, she sounded just like Alex. She had on a crossdraw holster rig with her cap guns. One thing was for sure, any kid of his and Alex's was bound to have that Irish temper and be a crack shot.

The bucket of water they threw on him had him sputtering. The pain had him gasping for breath. The thin wires they'd wrapped around his wrists to hang him up by felt like they'd cut down to the bone. He had blood running down his arms. He could close his mind off and survive getting beaten almost to death. But what they'd done to that kid - he bit down on the inside of his jaw. He'd always known Cage was tougher than he was, and admired him for it. McCall had survived too, but cracked afterwards. And poor Alex was _so_ sure that Blue could have _fixed_ him and put him back together… Kirby knew if he lived thru this, he would lose his hands. And no, that was not happening. He was not going to be a burden on his wife. He was going to make the guy kill him.

"Wake up, American." The voice he'd come to hate and fear said.

He'd been guarding the rear as usual, and he didn't know what had happened. He hoped they'd just grabbed him, and hadn't killed the rest of the squad. He'd woken up in this hell of a prison camp. They'd tortured the two guys who were there when they brought him in. They'd carved the last kid up with a knife, and Kirby knew he'd hear his screams until he died. He was afraid he was going to scream too.

The whip cut into his back again, and blood trickled down his throat where he'd bitten his jaw to keep from screaming out loud.

"It's ok, Kirby." He heard a gentle voice from his childhood say. Eddie Kolpecheck, his best friend from forever. Ruthie's fiancé. Beaten to death almost five weeks ago by an SS officer.

_He was dead. Eddie had come to take him somewhere. He seriously doubted it was heaven._

He felt strong arms around his waist, and somebody lifted him, taking the strain off his wrists where they'd hung him up. _Littlejohn_ was here? He was the only person Kirby knew who was big enough to do that.

"We're gonna help you, Kirby. It'll be ok." His best friend from basic. Jinglebob Jenkins. Nineteen years old, 6'6" tall, strong as a damn ox, and the best rifleman Kirby had ever known. Killed by a sadistic NCO who'd almost managed to kill Kirby too.

"Let's take a trip, Kirbs." Eddie grinned at him. _Alex_ was the only one who ever called him that. There was no way Eddie could have known - Kirby felt himself leave his body, and then he and Eddie were flying.

The hell with it. She was going home. She'd had enough of damn War and death and fighting. All she wanted to do was jump on Sandy bareback and tear around the ranch. Hold Candace and Jinglebob's baby. Put her head in Mom West's lap and cry her heart out for days. She was going to find McCall's wife and rearrange her face. And shoot the guy she'd "Dear Johned" poor Danny for. Other than those first few numbing sobs, she'd bottled it up and gone on. Kirby was dead. She was too. The only difference was that she was still breathing.

She started back to where she'd hidden the jeep. She'd cracked. She _could not_ do this anymore. She hadn't felt anything at all in weeks. Since the day she'd typed Kirby's name on the KIA lists, looked at it stupidly, and realized her husband was dead. What the heck could they do to her? Women were fragile. Women couldn't handle combat. The damn army hadn't even had enough compassion to send a chaplain to tell her her husband was dead.

And then the screaming started. "Oh, god." It was too much. She threw up in the bushes until there was nothing left. Rinsed her mouth out with water from her canteen, and crammed some Juicy Fruit in her mouth. Thank god for McCall, who just simply explained things to her. Things that horrified the rest of them too, but they didn't have a clue how to help. McCall could make things alright. She had a feeling that he could probably make things alright for the rest of her life, if she had the guts to let him. There was no _happily ever after _for her and Ruthie. But Mavis still had a chance - what if they were torturing Littlejohn?

She didn't know where she found the strength to run. And then she heard Tall Feather say, "Watch it!" and froze. A damn trip wire. She had _almost_ put her foot on it. She could leave it and go around it, but she and anybody she could save would have to come back this way. Cursing Krauts the whole time, she traced it back and defused it.

Why had Eddie brought him to this place? It looked like a ranch. Oh, no. Eddie had brought him to see Alex. And while he knew he was dead and he wanted her to be happy, he couldn't stand the thought of seeing her with somebody else.

"Eddie!" Kirby protested, when his friend pulled him straight _thru_ a barn wall.

There was a ranch kid in overalls and pig tails milking a cow. She had her head buried in the cows flank and she was crying as she milked. Kirby couldn't make out what she was saying, but he knew she'd lost _somebody._

Eddie looked at her with his heart in his eyes, and Kirby gasped. He'd never seen his buddy look at anybody but Ruthie like that. His sister who wouldn't be caught dead without perfect hair, flawless make up, and high heels, had turned into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm?

The _cow_ snorted and stomped her feet. _She_ knew they were there, and she didn't like it.

"Eddie, we're upsetting the cow. She won't let down her cream." Kirby said. "And she's liable to kick Ruthie. We need to go."

Eddie chuckled, "Since when do you know anything about cows?" and then he reached and very gently laid a hand on Ruthie's shoulder.

"_Eddie? Eddie?"_ Ruthie looked around frantically, and Kirby saw the pain in her eyes. Then he and Eddie were flying thru the air again.

"She's going to be so happy with Cage." Eddie said.

How in the world was Cage going to meet his sister? _Alex._ The guys would check on her, of course. Littlejohn's Nebraska farm was too far away for him to be daily help, but Kirby knew he would drop everything to go to Alex if she needed him. Doc, of course, helped everybody and thought nothing of it. _McCall?_ _Alex could marry McCall_. The man would cherish her and take care of her. Kirby could live with that. He saw Eddie nod his head in approval, and guessed he could read his mind.

"How do I tell the two of them it's ok?" Kirby asked, and then he felt a jolt as he flowed back into his body.

The SS Captain was still beating him, but Jinglebob was standing behind him holding him up to keep the strain off his wrists, and absorbing all the blows. "Jinglebob! You can't!"

" Kirby., he can't hurt me." His friend grinned at him.

" I got two angels?" Kirby asked. His dead friends come to help him?

"We came for Alex and Ruthie." Eddie grinned at him. Then, sternly, " They've already cracked. You _have_ to make it, Kirby. You _can not_ quit. There are too many people counting on you."

The whip cut into his back again, and he almost screamed. He _would not_ give the bastard the satisfaction.

"You _will_ tell me what I want to know." The man stepped in front of him.

"Go to hell." Kirby said, and spat in his face. _If_ he made the man shoot him, he wouldn't be carved up with a knife. There was no way he could go thru what Cage and McCall had. Just the thought of it made him break out in a cold sweat.

"I am so going to enjoy this." The man smiled at him as he unsheathed his knife.

"Sarge!" Cage protested, tears streaming down his face.

When they'd noticed Kirby gone, they'd back tracked and found where the Krauts had ambushed him. Cage didn't know how he'd missed them. From the looks of it, they'd been concealed in the trees, and jumped him. He felt guilty as hell. And the screaming… They'd heard it, it seemed like for miles. And he was so afraid it was Kirby.

They'd run into what was left of Sergeant Hall's squad, also intent on a rescue. There were two riflemen, a medic, and Sergeant Hall dragging himself along with a leg wound. He'd refused to be left behind or sent back. And it was a good thing. The area was a maze of trip wires and booby traps, and Hall was as quietly efficient at locating and disarming them as Saunders.

"Sarge, if we wait, he's gonna be dead." Doc said.

His entire squad was fixing to mutiny. He _did not_ want to leave Kirby there. They'd already disarmed three wires and two booby traps. He knew there were more. He could not risk all of their lives for one man.

"I'm not leavin' that kid." Hall said. "Blame it on me."

Alex admired the kids spunk. She didn't know what in the hell she was going to do. She had counted ten men. She _knew_ she could take six of them before she went down herself. But she couldn't go down. She _had_ to save the kid. He belonged to _somebody._ Somebody loved him. And dammit, he was going to make it home.

She was shaking. The SS Captain was too close to the kid. If she missed - if she missed -

"You _never_ miss, Miss Alex." Jinglebob's voice said in her ear.

She squeezed the trigger, and the Kraut's head exploded.

And then all hell broke loose.

Saunders didn't know which of his men had made that shot, then decided it must have been Hall, as he motioned them forward. Hall sighted in on a fleeing officer, only to see the man's head explode as he pulled the trigger.

Alex decided the hell with it, and quit her usual strategy of shooting officers first. Once the GI's swarmed in, she just shot anything in a Kraut uniform. That tall man _had_ to be Littlejohn. She was so afraid that the whole squad was dead. Everything had just stopped the day she put Kirby's name on the KIA list.

Kirby screamed in spite of himself when the Kraut's head exploded all over him. GI's were coming from everywhere, it seemed. Bullets flying all around. He was going to get hit by friendly fire. Then he felt Eddie and JingleBob link hands around him. "It's gonna be ok, Kirby." JingleBob said.

"Hang on, Kirby!" Littlejohn shouted, as he grabbed his legs and hoisted him up.

"I'm sorry." Cage said, tears streaming down his face. Then, "SHIT! Littlejohn, I can't reach -"

He changed places with Littlejohn, and once Cage had hold of him Kirby realized that two medics had hold of his legs as well. Doc and a guy he didn't know. Whoever the sniper in the bushes was - _Alex! It was Alex!_ She did still love him. The fact she hadn't answered his letter didn't mean anything. She might not have gotten it. He would write her again. He would write Sally and tell her - he couldn't write anybody. His hands were gone, he knew it…

As soon as Littlejohn had him cut down, they stretched him out on the ground. The medics went to work getting the wire off, and Cage and Littlejohn both flanked them. Eddie and JingleBob just seemed to get farther away, and their hands were still linked. His live friends and his dead ones, protecting him.

"Cage, get Alex and my kid! Don't leave them here!" Kirby pleaded. He felt the medic jab him with a needle, and then everything faded out.

"Doc?" Cage asked worriedly.

"He's out of his head, Cage." Doc shook his head. "But knowing Alex, you might want to check." He looked like he wanted to be sick.

Littlejohn waved Cage on, and the scout headed for the one ramshackle building in the compound.

What he saw inside made him want to retch. He stumbled back to the door, where he met Doc, and shook his head. Saunders stepped in, took one quick look, and touched Cage's shoulder before pushing him out.

"Doc?" he asked, glancing at Kirby.

The medic had tears streaming down his face, and he gulped. "He's got internal injuries and if he lives, he's probably going to lose his hands." He swiped at his eyes and went back to help Sergeant Hall's medic, who'd told him his name was Ben.

"Cage, you and Littlejohn rig a stretcher." Saunders ordered.

"I'll just carry him, Sarge." Littlejohn said. "Ben said if he and Doc get blood flowing back into Kirby's hands they should be okay. They can walk on either side of me and massage him. That's okay, isn't it?" he looked at Saunders worriedly.

"We still need a stretcher."

"Hell, no, I don't need one." Hall said, waving to McCall. "This boy will help me."

Since it was quite evident that McCall was older than Hall, they all looked at him in surprise.

"Don't you want one of your men to help you, sir?" McCall asked. He'd quickly picked up on the fact that _all_ of Hall's men addressed him that way, NCO or not. The look on Hall's face answered him. "You don't know how well I handle a rifle." he grinned, started to laugh, and then sighed as he looked at Kirby.

"I think he'll be okay of we can get him straight to the hospital." Ben said.

"Cage, take the point." Saunders barked out orders to all of them.

McCall offered an arm to Sergeant Hall who balanced, and then lifted his free hand above his head and waved to the trees, as if beckoning someone in.

"You didn't - " Saunders stopped, as Hall shook his head.

"Someone else beat me to it."

Cage already moving out, stopped and glanced back at Saunders, keeping one eye on the tree line.

"Check it out, Cage. He may be hit." Saunders said, unhappy that he'd completely missed the man.

Alex felt a gentle hand helping her as she slid down the tree. Her arm throbbed from the flesh wound she'd gotten a couple days before. It was getting infected, she knew. "Thanks, Tall Feather." she said, absently, knowing he was there, and not even questioning why she could _feel_ him and not _see_ him.

"It's me, Miss Alex." JingleBob's voice said.

She looked, and he was standing right next to her. "Bobby, I've lost my mind." She said out loud. "And I know you didn't go to hell, so I must still be alive."

"Satan would be afraid of you, Miss Alex." He chuckled, slid a gentle arm around her waist. "And you ain't goin' to hell for shootin' Krauts in a War."

Then they ran thru the trees until they reached her jeep. "I need to leave it for them." She said. "Bobby, can you help me?"

"You drive the jeep." he said, and disappeared.

"Hold your fire, Cage!" JingleBob called out.

Cage froze, looking all around. He could _hear_ the voice, but where was it coming from? And people knowing his name was getting downright scary.

"We're on your side." The voice was in his head. Had he cracked from seeing what they did to Kirby and those poor dead kids?

"Naw, Cage, you ain't crazy. You're gonna have a good long life. And man, your wife is a looker!" Then, "We're leaving you our jeep. Don't shoot us, ok?"

He still couldn't find the man. Maybe he was a ventriloquist. There _had _to be somebody there. From his time in the swamps, he knew all about gitchee women, and evil, but this presence was friendly. The hairs on the back of his neck weren't standing up. And then the jeep drove into sight, and _Alex,_ he damn well knew it was Alex, hopped out and ran. He jumped in, and drove back to the squad.

"Where'd you get that?" Saunders demanded.

"The snipers left it for me." Cage tried to shrug it off. "Maybe they're deserters just fighting their own war."

"McCall? McCall?" Kirby cried frantically, thrashing around in Littlejohn's arms.

"I'm right here, Kirby. Calm down." McCall looked at Doc questioningly. The morphine that Ben had administered seemed to have knocked him right out earlier.

"If I don't make it, you marry Alex. You _promise _me." Kirby was trying to get his hand lose from Doc to reach out to McCall.

"Kirby, don't be stupid. You're gonna be fine." McCall said, and felt Hall's hand dig warningly into his arm. "I can't marry Alex. Not legally anyway." At all their curious looks, he said, "I don't know what happened to my wife. I hope she's still alive, but I don't _know."_ And then he realized he'd remembered something. He couldn't have one of those pounding headaches that the Doctors told him were called migraines right now. He'd store it away for later.

"Kirby, all of us will help Alex and Ruthie." Littlejohn said. "And if something happens to me, I expect you to help Mavis. Deal?"

"Deal." Kirby said. And then he slipped into unconsciousness again.

They loaded him in the back of the jeep with Ben and Doc still massaging his wrists, put Sergeant Hall in the front, and Saunders told McCall to get them all to the aid station. McCall started to protest, saw the look the Sarge shot at Kirby, and climbed behind the wheel.

"Radio Lieutenant Hanley when you get there and let him know what happened." Saunders added.

When Alex came to, someone was wiping her head with a cool cloth, and she realized her arm was bandaged. "Mama?" she asked, thinking she was back at the ranch, and one of Tall Feather's ancient relatives was taking care of her.

"Rest. You're safe here." The woman spoke in French.

As Saunders neared the hospital, he saw Doc and Ben sitting outside. Doc was crying, and Ben had his hand on his shoulder talking to him. He thought he was going to be sick. Kirby hadn't made it. What in the hell was he going to tell Alex? He couldn't chicken out and send a chaplain, and she would shoot Hanley.

"But I gave up on him." Doc said. "How did you know?"

"Sometimes miracles happen. Sometimes things that make no medical sense at all. And then sometimes people die for absolutely no reason."

"He _should_ have had internal injuries."

Ben shrugged. "He should have. I think we had some divine intervention here." He patted Doc's shoulder again. "You're going to make an excellent Doctor."

Doc shook his head. "I don't have the money for school."

"Doesn't matter. Something tells me that I'll be seeing you and your beautiful wife at medical conventions."

Doc shook his head, and then he looked up and saw Saunders standing there. "Sarge, Kirby's gonna be ok."

"Hall?" Saunders asked Ben.

"Getting run over by a Tiger tank would only slow Sergeant Hall down a little. Knowing him, he'll be back on the line in two weeks." Ben shook his head.

"He seems to have a lot in common with someone else I know." Doc said.

Saunders spared him a grin as he stepped into the aid tent. Kirby was resting in a bed next to Hall, who was struggling, trying to get something out of his shirt pocket.

"Here." Saunders reached inside and pulled out a photograph.

"Thanks." Hall said, gripping it in his hand, and looking at his family. He'd carried the tattered photo all thru Africa. "My baby's walking. We've got to hurry up and win this damn War. I ain't missin' her startin' school."

"I thought your wife sent you a new one." Saunders said.

Hall nodded. "I'm _in_ this one, though."

Made perfect sense to Saunders, and he nodded.

"That's a good man you've got there." Hall looked over at Kirby. "I don't know as I'd have the guts to ask another man to take care of my wife, even if I knew I was dying."


End file.
